Thread: Bush's flawed immigration plan

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Bush's flawed immigration plan
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Sunday, October 2, 2005



IF YOU NEEDED any proof that our immigration system is completely broken, take a look at a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center. It shows that for the first time in our nation's history the number of illegal immigrants coming to the United States exceeds the number of those coming in legally.

Yes, that's right. Despite the expenditure of at least $10 billion spent over the past decade to tighten controls on the Southwest border, some 562,000 unauthorized immigrants came into the United States in 2004. In contrast, 455,000 came here as legal permanent residents. (See www.pewhispanic.org for the full report.)

This state of affairs should be prompting a fundamental rethinking of our national immigration policies. Despite repeated signals that suggested it was willing to tackle the problem, the Bush administration now seems hopelessly deadlocked on the issue.

President Bush's emerging immigration plan, which the White House has been discussing with lawmakers and others in private meetings over the past couple of weeks, is an example of the fantasyland in which the administration continues to roam on this issue.

The Bush plan calls for establishing a guest-worker program. According to those who have seen it, the plan would allow illegal immigrants already here to sign up as guest workers, if they pay a stiff fine. They would be given a three-year visa, with a possibility of renewal for another three. After that, they would have to return to their home countries for at least a year before reapplying for entry to the United States.

Sound good? The fatal flaw in this proposal is that it is hard to imagine that any more than a tiny number of the 11 million or so illegal immigrants in the nation would sign up for the temporary visa. Why would they risk a life that many have established over many years -- often with continuous employment with the same employer -- knowing that they would have to return to their home country in three to six years?

In addition, the plan ignores the reality that most illegal immigrants live in families with "mixed" immigration status. As Jeffrey Passell, co-author of the Pew study, points out, an estimated 3.6 million legal-immigrant children in the United States have illegal-immigrant parents. It's highly unlikely that an unauthorized migrant would pack up with his legal family members and return to his or her country of origin after three to six years here as a guest worker.

What's more likely to happen is that a guest-worker program would attract foreign workers who are not yet in the country. What the United States, and every other country that has had a temporary guest-worker program, has found is that many participants end up staying permanently in the host country. The Bush plan could have the perverse effect of adding to the sizable illegal immigrant population already here.

Unless President Bush is willing to consider some path to permanent status for illegal immigrants already in the United States, his immigration plan will do little to reinforce what should be a fundamental principle in U.S. immigration policy -- that most immigrants come here legally. And illegal immigrants will continue to outnumber legal immigrants.

What's more likely to happen is that a guest-worker program would attract foreign workers who are not yet in the country. What the United States, and every other country that has had a temporary guest-worker program, has found is that many participants end up staying permanently in the host country. The Bush plan could have the perverse effect of adding to the sizable illegal immigrant population already here.

Of course, that's what Bush wants!